Comments on: Impact of Wolfram Alpha on Math Ed

By: Maria H. Andersen

Maria H. Andersen — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:54:49 +0000

Well, the first CAS was built in 1988 (Derive) and there have been many iterations of CAS: maple, mathematica, scientific notebook, mathcad, sage, matlab, … TI-92 calculators were the first to use CAS in 1995. So … CAS has been used for 20 years. I don’t mean to sound crass, but I’m trying to find a valid reason how a math instructor could have missed encountering CAS in the last 22 years. They might not know it by the name CAS, but surely they know of the technology … and if not … well, they are not likely to learn about Wolfram Alpha either I think.

By: Jeremy Roberts

Jeremy Roberts — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:20:09 +0000

I’m not completely sure about point two. I don’t know how prepared college math instructors are for adopting new technologies. I know many of them who not completely sure what CAS is, so…

By: Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin » Blog Archive » WolframAlpha: Should your students be allowed to use it?

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:30:08 +0000

[...] about this issue, I googled how WolframAlpha is used in education and I found a very interesting blog “Teaching College Math’ by Maria H. Andersen. It deals with the use of technology in mathematics education but a lot of it applies to science. [...]

By: Maria H. Andersen

Maria H. Andersen — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:18:19 +0000

Well, Wolfram Alpha is not even a year old yet, and academic journals can take 1-2 years to publish an article – so I’m not surprised that you haven’t found any research yet. You probably won’t see any published research until 2012 or so.

By: Maddy

Maddy — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:59:23 +0000

I’m studing e-learning, in the process of career change to teaching secondary maths. Walpha looks like a fabulous tool. Has anyone heard of academic research about Walpha? Conference papers? My searches are only coming up with newspaper articles, blogs etc.

By: Wolfram|Alpha as a self-verification tool « Casting Out Nines

Wolfram|Alpha as a self-verification tool « Casting Out Nines — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:02:57 +0000

[...] many tools available to students for this purpose is Wolfram|Alpha, which has been blogged about extensively. (See also my YouTube video, “Wolfram|Alpha for Calculus Students”.) W|A’s [...]

By: Johnny

Johnny — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:09:22 +0000

you like walpha better than wolfa? walpha sounds too childish to me…

By: Wolfram|Alpha and the shrinking future of the graphing calculator « Casting Out Nines | iSukAtMath.com

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:07:12 +0000

[...] knowledge engine” that was recently rolled out by the makers of Mathematica. If you haven’t, here’s a good place to start. There is considerable debate among ed-tech people as to exactly what kind of impact Wolfram|Alpha, [...]

By: MsAxthelm

MsAxthelm — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:44:22 +0000

Hello -

I am an inspiring high school math teacher an am excited about the possibilities of W|A in my future classroom. I see how the program can really help students visualize the language of math.

However, I do have concerns about the need for students to practice math. Concepts are a good start, but all the research I am reading now emphasizes the need for some skills to be practiced to be mastered and truly understood. I hope to provide practicing opportunities in a rich, real-world context, but it still needs to get done.

How do we motivate our students to do this chore _and_ use W|A to help them get the concepts? Any ideas?

Joan

By: Wolfram Alpha, a New Online Computation Engine, Shakes Up Math - The Numbers Guy - WSJ

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:32:43 +0000

[...] Andersen, a mathematics instructor at Muskegon Community College whose blog has hosted a lively discussion on Wolfram Alpha, is excited to use the new search engine in instruction. “I do see it as being a fantastic [...]